News 2012-10-18 Trade News

Trade News

Munich, 20 September 2012 – Linde Gases, a division of The Linde Group, has announced the opening of their state-of-the-art Innovation Centre for Aquaculture, a pioneering R&D and testing unit located at Ålesund in Norway. The centre was formally opened by Norway's Vice Minister of the Ministry of Fisheries and Coastal Affairs, Kristine Gramstad, at an inauguration ceremony today.

The innovation centre, with its location based in the heart of the world's most industrialised fish farming community, will be a leading aquaculture R&D centre globally. In addition to highly equipped laboratories, the centre will feature a number of test and demonstration aquaculture tanks, the largest of which is 55 cubic metres and has been built to a highly innovative specification. A highlight of the innovation centre, the tank will allow both aquaculture technologists and customers alike to observe how the latest oxygenation technologies impact fish development within an optimal on-land farming enclosure. In addition to an overhead walkway extending the full diameter length of the tank, Linde has maximised observational opportunities via eye-level inspection windows and underwater lighting.

"Both the research and development and the subsequent testing of the latest oxygenation technologies is unquestionably needed to ensure the future success of land-based aquaculture," says Stefan Dullstein, Head of Aquaculture and Water Treatment, Linde Gases Division. "Linde's dedicated Innovation Centre for Aquaculture will play a leading role in the delivery of such technologies and give customers the opportunity to see first hand pioneering oxygenation systems in operation."

Linde's advanced aquaculture technology has been developed in response to a progressive trend that is seeing aquaculture production being transferred from sea cages to land-based sites for the full duration of a marine fish’s life. It is this change that has confronted the fish farming industry with the challenge of efficiently oxygenating large fish tanks to accommodate fish stock from infancy to maturity.

The Linde Gases Division, part of The Linde Group, is a leader in the international industrial and healthcare gases markets, providing compressed, bulk, specialty and medical gases, as well as chemicals to virtually all fields of industry globally. The company adds value to its customers' businesses through the provision of state-of-the-art application technology, process know-how, services and equipment.

The Linde Group is a world-leading gases and engineering company with around 51,000 employees in more than 100 countries worldwide. In the 2011 financial year it generated revenue of EUR 13.787 bn. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment – in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The Group is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.